Crisis of conscience?
by LostHighwayEscapee
Summary: Someone in the know has second thoughts...Alternate Xenoblade plot line. Events diverge at the end of the colony 9 assault. This story has significant spoilers from the very outset so make sure you've finished Xenoblade before reading this.


Xenoblade – Crisis of conscience?

* * *

An alternate Xenoblade storyline. Events diverge from the original plot at the end of the colony 9 assault, during the closing stages of the battle with Metal Face.

This is a new game+ alternate plotline, so expect immediate spoilers! This is a variation of Shulks sacrifice whereby something outside of the parties control further alters events. Do not read until you've finished Xenoblade or some major plot twists will be spoiled for you.

"" = spoken, ("") = thoughts, Italics = whispered/subliminal, Bold = Loud/Overwhelming

* * *

Metal face was about to carve up all three of them…then Fiora charged him. She must have already known what was going to happen. Even the air defence batteries hadn't marked that monster, so a mobile artillery had no chance. That shout was of absolute determination though…and it wasn't to destroy that thing…it was to save them.

Shulk knew in his heart exactly what was about to happen. The vision tore across his mind with ever increasing vividness. He's exhausted, the struggle with metal face pushing him to the brink. Reyn and Dunban are the same, both barely standing. There's one inescapable fact though. They aren't dead. And they aren't dead because Fiora has just put her own life on the line the save theirs. The vision sharpens further, colour now entering it. Shulk realises exactly what he needs to do.

"The future…is ours to create…"

Shulk charges metal face alone. The mobile artillery is being thrown around like a rag doll and he knows he's running out of time. He sees metal face raising its claw, the vision and reality now overlapping.

"I'm not gonna let you take Fiora!"

Shulk leaps towards metal face with the Monado drawn. Thanks to his battle cry there's no element of surprise, but he's drawn metal face's attention away. Metal face alters the course of the strike to skewer Shulk but something strikes its arm, knocking the attack off course and missing Shulk, who brings the Monado down on its face, making it recoil. Shulk climbs onto the mobile artillery and takes a brief look at Fiora; she's battered and dazed, but clearly still alive. Metal Face regains its composure and wags its finger at Shulk before targeting him with its blaster. As it charges up Shulk knows he can't run or the shot will hit Fiora, but thankfully something hits the blaster, causing the weapon to explode. Metal face slumps forwards, but is still moving.

"Fiora, I'll get you out of there!"

Shulk uses the Monado to cut away the ruined artillery, freeing Fiora.

"We need to retreat, that thing's getting up again!"

Reyn and Dunban rush over to Fiora and Shulk and help to get Fiora away. Metal face rises back to its feet and prepares to slash the four of them, but again something strikes it, this time destroying one of its eyes. Metal Face staggers away before activating its flight systems and fleeing, rapidly followed by the remaining mechon.

"What happened? I thought it had us, then the next thing…"

"I think I know. I was starting to wonder where he'd disappeared to."

"Alright kids! Nice to see you all made it."

"Dickson!"

"Not bad for a bunch for amateurs and a wounded veteran, if it hadn't been for that ugly bugger you'd have managed all by yourselves."

"So where were you? Not that I'm not grateful but your timing was bit near the margin; a second later and Shulk and Fiora would've been dead."

"You know what the brass are like. Apart from you and Vangarre they're all talk and no balls, and they had me covering their yellow arses instead of being here trying to do something useful. I had a hunch something bad was gonna happen so I figured I'd better get myself into the action before it did. Looks like I was right to trust my instincts on this one…oh shit! Is Fiora okay?"

"Urrrgh…I don't think it's anything too serious thanks…just sore as hell and really dizzy."

"How're things back at the fortress? Is Vangarre?..."

"Didn't get chance to check but I think I saw him being carted off to intensive care as I left. I know that's not exactly good news, but at least he's got a chance. As for the rest once we got fortified the body count stopped rising, but it's not nice. To be frank with you Reyn I wouldn't recommend going back there right now; it's pretty horrible in the courtyard and I don't want you beating yourself up over it, especially considering what you just put yourself through."

"Damn…thanks for warning me."

"Well, we'd better get ourselves somewhere more comfortable now the danger's past, and we'd better get some first aid for Fiora; yes, I know you're putting a brave face on it, Dunban always did the same thing and I could see through him as well."

"We'll go back to mine; I've got a pretty comprehensive stash of medical stuff so that should cover the first aid side of things."

The five of them make their way to Dunban's house.

"How you holding up Dunban? You weren't looking too great back there."

"I'll be okay Shulk; the Monado aggravated some of the damage it did to me back at sword valley, but it settled as soon as I stopped using it."

"Ummm…you were coughing up blood…"

"I've survived worse Reyn, so don't worry about it."

"All very well you saying that but you need to put your feet up now; let those injuries settle. Oh, and I'll sort out Fiora."

"Fair enough Dickson…my arm's shaking now and I guess you've got the best medical knowledge of all of us."

"Right then Fiora, let's get you patched up…don't think you'll have any permanent reminders but that bastard did a pretty nasty number on you; lucky you've got no broken bones."

"So it's just bruising and a concussion then?"

"Not something you just shrug off mind you, better get yourself rested for the next few days…and don't even think about chasing after that slag heap until you know you're fully recovered."

"All very well you saying that but…"

"I know Reyn's gonna be livid and out for blood but he won't be going anywhere unless he knows you and Shulk are gonna be alright."

"But Dunban…"

"He won't be trying his luck with the Monado again now he knows Shulk can use it. He might be pretty reckless when it comes to protecting you, but he's got his head screwed on enough to know when he can trust someone else to help."

"But someone still needs to…"

"I'll cook for a change. I know Reyn and Dunban are useless and Shulk's a bit questionable but I'm not too shabby in front of the stove."

"Dickson…will you please stop answering my questions before I've asked them. It's trippy enough with this bloody concussion without you mind reading on top."

"Sorry about that."

"Is Shulk okay?"

"He was still standing so I don't think he got hurt too badly."

"He nearly killed himself…why'd he have to be so reckless?"

"Just ask yourself the same question. The answer's gonna be the same as well."

Fiora smiles.

"So he feels the same way. I guess I shouldn't have doubted him."

"Yeah, he's been a bit distant this past year. After seeing the state Dunban came back from sword valley in he set about the Monado research like a man possessed. I was worried he was losing himself for a while, but I think you've got the old Shulk back now…I don't think there's any doubt about what's really important to him after that."

"Heh…I'm feeling better already."

"Don't push it; take my advice and rest up properly and you'll recover much quicker; so no strenuous activity for the next few days."

"Well, I'd better get back with everyone or they'll be getting worried."

Dickson helps Fiora back to the living room. Dunban visibly relaxes upon seeing her.

"Nothing to worry about, I'm fine!"

"She's using the definition of fine you use for yourself in case you were wondering Dunban; so in other words beat to hell but no permanent damage."

"I'm not that bad; really. A few days rest and I'll be ready to go again…and never mind me, is everyone else okay?"

"Just did myself a bit of a mischief with the Monado; other than that I'm pretty good all things considered, and I doubt it'll take me long to recover."

"Exhausted but otherwise fine; thanks for asking Fiora; I think I got off pretty lightly considering what we just went through…how about you Shulk…Shulk?"

"I…think so…that was too close…"

"It'll take a while for your heart rate to slow down after that Shulk, especially considering you weren't exactly trained for that sort of thing; engineers aren't supposed to end up in the thick of it."

"Nobody ever told me that."

"You're a special case Dickson; hell, you're supposed to be over the age limit for active combat duty as well."

"In that case I'd better doctor my defence force documents again. According to those I'm no older than thirty…and have been for the last fifteen or so years. Oh, you might want to get something for your hands Shulk."

"Huh? Oh bugger, I didn't realise I'd done that."

Shulk notices his hands are bleeding a little.

"No problems, I'll get you sorted Shulk."

"Thanks Reyn."

"Now that I think about it that stash of yours could do with a top up Dunban. I might as well pop back to the lab and raid my travel stash. I don't have any trips planed in the near future so it's probably gonna be more useful in your hands anyway."

"Thanks Dickson; you wouldn't mind taking the Monado back while you're at it? It doesn't really seem right to have it lying around the house."

"No problems. I'll see you all in a few minutes."

Dickson makes his way back to the lab with the Monado while Reyn helps Shulk get his hands patched up. He looks back to see an almost tearful Dunban giving Fiora a hug and can't help but smile at seeing his normally stoic hero exterior being momentarily stripped away.

"Heh…I guess that's the big softie Fiora told me about."

Dickson gets to the lab

("Right, I might as well have a quick word with them and see what they make of this little cock up. I doubt the fallout's gonna be too bad mind…and they can't exactly blame all of it on me either.)

Once he's certain nobody else is present he holds up the Monado

"I guess that wasn't exactly what you were expecting but…"

"What the hell was that?"

"I think you'll find it was a pretty decent attempt at making a silk purse out of a sow's ear so to speak."

"You interfered with the plan."

"The plan turned to rat shit when he realised he had a chance of saving her at the last moment."

"He didn't do that in the projections."

"But that's exactly what he did when it came down it; he didn't care that it'd kill him, he wanted to save her no matter what it took. Look over what happened again and you'll see everything went pear shaped a second before I made my move."

"….You're right. How did you know?"

"I didn't. I had a hunch something like this might happen though, and I wasn't gonna let it slide."

"That was quite the risk. If events had transpired as expected and they'd seen you there would have been an awful lot of unpleasant questions to answer."

"You can't deny it paid off though."

"Indeed, although we still need a new plan given his state of mind and motivation are no longer as expected, and she's still very much alive and capable of influencing events."

"The former aren't gonna be a problem; he's still got an axe to grind with the mechon and an overwhelming desire to protect her, so as long as you appeal to that you'll get him on side. As for the latter I reckon she'll be far more an asset than a problem…"

"…that's not what the projections indicated…."

"…and we've already established they're not reliable given what happened. Run them again and keep her as a fixed element. If things aren't working out tell me what seems to be going wrong and I'll figure out how to smooth over the cracks."

"It seems somewhat incomprehensible that your so called hunch turned out to be a better prediction of events than a fate projection."

"There's more to it than that. I've spent the last fourteen years with him so I know him a lot better than you do. I was privy to the original scenario and we knew sooner or later he'd be able to defy fate; I just figured he might end up doing it a bit sooner than we expected."

"Well then, much as events have been decidedly unsettling we have to concede that by acting outside of the plan you've prevented what could have been a complete disaster and left us with a difficult, but salvageable situation. This will unfortunately result in your own workload increasing substantially though."

"Not a problem, I was ahead of schedule anyway."

"Yes…well, we'll get back to you regarding the results of the projections. In the meantime do as you see fit, although if per chance you can see a way of advancing our objectives it would be appreciated."

Dickson puts the Monado down.

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere on Bionis…

"So what do you think?"

"Hard to say. The facts are indisputable, but I do question his motivation somewhat. He ended up acting in our interests, although I don't believe that was originally his intention."

"Do you think he's formed some sort of sentimental attachment?"

"To him, undoubtedly; he's played the role of a father figure to him for that last fourteen years so I'd be astounded if he hadn't."

"And what about her?"

"Now that you mention it he never seemed…comfortable with the original scenario. He avoided the question somewhat when pressed as to how he would have handled the situation had the deviation not occurred."

"When someone dodges a question like that they normally do so to avoid having to lie while hiding the truth."

"So if events had transpired as expected…"

"…I believe he would have taken the shot anyway."

"Hmmm…even so, it's still mostly conjecture at this stage."

"Would you feel more at ease if he were put under surveillance?"

"The practicalities would be exceedingly difficult given how perceptive he is, and to be blunt we simply don't have the resources at the moment…in fact the extra demands of the altered situation make it essentially impossible without compromising the entire scenario."

"I see. I suppose for the time being there's no harm in trusting him; at this stage the only faction truly in direct opposition to us is Mechonis and he'll clearly continue to act against them."

* * *

Back at colony 9 Dickson has a few moments to himself as he makes his way back to Dunban's house.

("So what would I have done if everything was going like clockwork? Heh…I'd still have made the shot. I guess I'm not the man I was back then. Funny really, I can't deny all those years ago I felt a fair bit of guilt about selling my own people out, but it somehow didn't seem that important; a means to an essential end. If either Shulk or Fiora had died back there on the other hand I don't think I could have forgiven myself…I guess he's really rubbed off on me. I should be angry with him for what he did, but I feel proud of him. I suppose it didn't help the last thing I remembered before I rushed out of the fortress was a seven year old Fiora calling me uncle Dickson. I suppose Dunban rubbed off on me as well; I only got close to him so we could use him to start with but the lad grew into a fine man over the years, even with my bad influence. I still feel pretty shitty about letting the Monado chew him up at sword valley. As for Mumkhar...I guess I'm gonna have to put the poor sod down myself at some point. Shulk won't do it once he knows the truth, and I can't exactly expect Dunban to kill someone who was once a good mate, especially if he figures out what happened to him. I know he was no saint, but it wasn't nice watching the monado twist him into the core of metal face over those years. I don't think we can get him back either now that Egil's had his way with him on top.")

Dickson makes some hot drinks for everyone and has a quick look back. Much to his lack of surprise Fiora's already on her feet despite being unsteady and worrying over Dunban. She hadn't seen him coughing up blood earlier so the news shocked her quite a bit. Reyn's busy making sure Shulk's okay. His earlier brush with death has sunk in now and he's in a bit of shock, but mainly he's just relieved everyone made it. He's been in a bit of trance but Reyn's remark about not forgetting his brown trousers next time is enough to bring him back to reality.

("So that's real comradeship eh? Funny really, I threw my lot in with the absolute authority so I shouldn't be feeling even the slightest urge…no, I can't deny it; I have a doubt now. The projection got it wrong, and that's not supposed to happen, and that means his power isn't as absolute as he wants us to believe. The question now is am I really a terminally stupid sentimental old sod who'd risk the ire of the most powerful being in this neck of the universe for the sake of his gut feelings?...Well, I don't have to come up with an answer to that just yet. Still, I wonder what old Lori would think of all this? She'd disown me if she hadn't already many times over…no…she always did have an eye for the facts, and she wouldn't let this slide either. Hmm…I'll have to handle this tactfully if it comes down to it, but she needs to know.")

"Alright everyone, drinks are ready!"

"Cheers Dickson. After all that I need a brew."

"Oh and Dickson; thank you. I you hadn't shown up I'd probably have ended up skewered on that faced mechon's claws."

"Don't beat yourself up over it Shulk. When it comes to battle you've always got to watch each other's backs. Over the years me and Dunban saved each other's hide countless times."

"Even so that was pretty reckless of you Shulk."

"Yeah, but if he hadn't I'm not sure I could've made the shot in time. I think that move of his is why you're still here Fiora."

"One thing we did find out; the Monado seems to have decided Shulk's its new master, and on top of that he was able to pull a few tricks I couldn't do with it."

"That whole prediction trick really made the difference…hmmm."

"Something wrong Shulk?"

"Just thinking about what happened. I'm missing something important."

"We'll go over the battle once we've recovered a bit. We could do without another close call so we need to figure out how to improve our odds next time."

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere on mechonis…

"How's the damage?"

"Worse than we were expecting brother; we lost the main cannon, although the good news is face armour performed as well as expected against the monado."

"That's highly surprising; other than telethia there shouldn't really be anything on bionis capable of compromising face armour, especially not in the colony 9 area."

"I wonder if there's a design or a manufacturing error? I'll take a closer look…well I'll be damned."

"What have you found sister?"

"There's nothing wrong with the design; the weapon that did this last saw action during the great clash; the gunblade possessed by one of the disciples."

"So Dickson survived the great clash after all. Interesting that he limited himself though; if he'd gone all out we'd have been bringing Metal Face back in pieces."

"He's seriously that strong?"

"I witnessed his power first hand back then and he wasn't Zamza's right hand man for nothing. I can assure you only thing we have capable of taking him in a straight duel would be Yaldaboath itself…or perhaps Face Nemesis, assuming you can find a suitable core."

"Then that begs the question as to why he held back."

"Subterfuge most likely; I doubt the homs of colony 9 have the faintest clue as to his true nature…still, looking at the battle footage one thing is clear; he partially unsealed the sabre to ensure Metal Face was stopped. That means either the boy wielding the monado, or the girl in the mobile artillery…or possibly even both are somehow important to his plans.

"There's also the question of why Metal Face seemed excessively committed to killing the girl; she wasn't really any threat to him and the boy could have escaped while…hang on a minute! Replay the battle footage again!"

"What are you looking for?"

"Look closely at the boy's behaviour during the battle."

"He's…second guessing Metal Face's attacks."

"The only way he could do that would be to have higher access to the monado."

"And that wouldn't happen unless…"

"But keep watching him!"

"…I don't believe it! His behaviour is completely contrary to what we expected!"

"He not only doesn't display the expected streak of self-preservation, he actually would have sacrificed himself had Dickson not intervened."

"What are they then? The boy has the expected powers of the heir but he seems to display the opposite behaviour. As for her…run the footage again."

"She isn't displaying anything that would suggest…oh! I see what you're getting at; she nearly sacrificed herself trying to save him."

"Neither of them displayed a tendency to use others to ensure their survival, in fact both of them went as far as to put themselves in mortal danger to save each other. This would suggest neither of them are the heir, and yet to boy displays the sort of power that only the heir should have…but judging from the footage it appears that he couldn't even use the monado until today, and her brother was the previous wielder."

"The only conclusion we can really draw from this is the two of them are somehow very important. It's a shame we never got a visual confirmation of his current appearance, but the damage pattern of the sabre is very distinctive, and I'm not aware of anyone else who can unseal it."

"Then I'm pretty sure he'll know that we'd be able to deduce his presence from this. He's spent centuries in hiding, so to give his presence away means he's either got one hell of a good plan up his sleeve, or he's gambling."

"It's not their way to leave things to chance."

"Which means either he's not playing by their rules anymore, or he's going to try and play us big time."

"Either way we need comprehensive intelligence as fast as possible. I suggest we reel back combat engagements and switch to reconnaissance operations. Find some way to monitor those two and figure out what the hell they are, and try to find out what face Dickson wears these days so we can keep tabs on him."

"…."

"Something amiss brother? Your fists are shaking."

"Sorry, just letting my emotions get the better of me. I've got a good idea of what it should require to destroy him once and for all; and I can't do it without endangering everything we've achieved so far…but I am sorely tempted…for I was once taken in by his deceit myself."


End file.
